Nowadays the trend in the furniture industry is towards so-called "quick-assembly" or "knock-down" furniture (hereafter referred to as "KD furniture"). KD furniture is manufactured as a number of components adapted for ready assembly (and frequently also for ready disassembly) by the retailer or purchaser. As compared with traditional furniture, KD furniture has two great advantages. Firstly, it can be transported and sold in flat packs which take up relatively little space. Consequently transporting and warehousing costs are substantially reduced. Because the furniture takes up so little space, a retailer can readily keep stocks of KD furniture in its flat packs in his furniture store so that the customer can take away his purchase immediately. Surveys have shown that the purchasing of furniture is frequently by impulse and a customer is severely disappointed if, as frequently happens with traditionally manufactured furniture, to obtain the furniture which he sees on display he must wait weeks and often months for delivery.
The principles of KD furniture design can be applied to most kinds of furniture. A new type of furniture which makes best use of the principles of KD furniture design is so-called "systems furniture". Systems furniture consists of relatively small components which can be coupled together by the purchaser in various combinations to provide him with different eventual shapes and configurations for his furniture. Moreover, the design of the system can be altered either by re-arrangement or by addition of further components. Systems furniture is often assembled from flat panels of various sizes and coupling means for assembling the panels together.
Since the items of KD or systems furniture may be assembled by a relatively unsophisticated purchaser, the coupling means employed should be both reliable and relatively easy to use. A number of different forms of coupling means have been previously proposed. We have not found any heretofore which is in our view entirely satisfactory. It is frequently difficult to ensure precise alignment of apertures for connecting parts. Manufacture of furniture components to close tolerances would make them uneconomically expensive. It is thus highly desirable in our view for the coupling components to be at least to some extent self locating.